Three Lessons from a Content Kool-Aid Hangover at #cmworld

Let’s start with a math question (don’t worry; I know you’re probably not a “math person.”  It’s an easy one).

Take the 50 marketing experts who spoke at the Content Marketing World conference this past week, and give them an average of 15 years of experience.  How many years of experience do the combined experts have?

Don’t go for the calculator; use your mind and a number 2 pencil.  What did you get?  950.  Wrong!  (Just wanted to throw you off).  It’s 750.  Nice job to those who used a pencil.  With 750 total years of experience, that makes Content Marketing World a compilation of seven centuries of marketing wisdom.  Now that’s a content gold mine!

In fact, the branded color of the three-day event was close to gold.  It was orange.  Our bags were orange, the staff wore orange, and Joe Pulizzi, the founder of the event, even wore crazy orange shoes with a vintage orange jacket.  Some may say this was too much cheesy flare, but to me it was an honest, good time ‒ full of rich and real content.

Can you tell I’ve drunk the orange Content Marketing World Kool-Aid?  Well I have, and I’d gladly do it again.  I think any marketer who attended this event would say the same.

Here are three solid gold nuggets that I learned that you might want to apply to your content programs and company:

1. Don’t treat your customers like robots.

By all means, make a ridiculous YouTube video of your employees or mascot doing the robot, but please don’t talk to your customers like they have a robotic heart or mind.

Every speaker emphasized the need for marketers to talk like their customer.  Use the same language they do because they don’t use your company lingo.  Customers know and relate to their own.  Use technology to research what that language is and where ‒ online or off, from the web or not, etc. ‒ customers get their content.

2. Put your content in a home.

Putting content in a home is the exact opposite of putting grandma in a home (please excuse the cheekiness).

The speakers from DuPont, HP, and Eloqua said that content must have a place to live online.  Content has to be found and shared.

The director of online content from Dell said that your website or blog should be the hub of your content.

3. Get a hot cowboy to lead your content rodeo.

This hot cowboy is a smart content director or manager.  Every program needs defined governance.  Appoint a leader with power and a mind for strategic coordination to manage the content strategy.

This advice comes straight from DuPont’s marketing manager.  He also shared his content organization model: a leader in charge of a centralized board (which includes PR, Marketing, Reporting, etc.) and a coordinator to manage the communication, editorial calendar, meeting schedules, deadlines, etc.

To sum it up: Be honest, be creative, and be organized with your content.

Let me know if you’ve drunk the content Kool-Aid or if you have more orange nuggets!